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Ottawa should fix punitive pardon process: Editorial

How many more public consultations will it take before Ottawa does the moral, evidence-based thing and gives rehabilitated offenders a second chance?

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale answers a question during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa in September. Goodale has called the current pardon process "punitive." (Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Wed., Oct. 12, 2016

Perhaps the starkest symbol of the Harper government’s punitive approach to justice was its decision in 2012 to drop the term “criminal pardon” from Canadian law, replacing it with the less graceful “record suspension.” Forgiveness was no longer on offer, the government seemed to be saying. You can pay for your crime, but you will never be liberated from the yoke of your past mistakes.

Worse still, Harper et al didn’t stop at the semantic. The change was part of the Criminal Records Act, a piece of legislation ostensibly designed to save Ottawa a few bucks, but which, like so much of the Harper government’s crime policy, has created an unjust cycle of disadvantage while yielding highly dubious economic benefits.

The law imposed an absolute ban on pardons for some offenders, doubled the waiting period to apply and raised the cost from $150 to $631. That last change might not seem like much, but for many — especially those who can’t find a job because of their criminal record — the increase has proved prohibitive, the new law a Catch-22.

As numbers released this week by the Parole Board of Canada show, the legislation has prompted a precipitous drop-off in pardon applications. Over the last four years, the number is down by more than half, from 29,849 applicants in 2011-12 to 12,384 last year.

While that was precisely the intended outcome, it should be cause for grave concern. Released offenders often require a pardon before they can travel, get a job or find housing. The policy perversely denies the rehabilitated their earned right to re-enter society and thus makes recidivism more likely.

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If given the chance, the vast majority will contribute to their community. Ninety-seven per cent of pardoned Canadians never reoffend, according to the parole board. They are less likely to commit a crime than the average citizen. What purpose beyond vengeance could this law possibly serve?

Vic Toews, the public safety minister at the time of the policy shift, offered this answer: “Ordinary Canadians shouldn’t have to be footing the bill for a criminal asking for a pardon.” But surely the cost of providing social assistance to the many offenders kept out of the workforce or denied adequate housing by this misguided law easily eclipses any savings.

Canadians seem to understand this. Before tabling the legislation, the Harper government consulted more than 1,000 citizens. Ninety-eight per cent said they opposed it. That seems to give the Liberal government a clear mandate to revise a pardon process it claims to oppose.

Yet nearly a year into its first term, all the government has done on this issue is talk. In January, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale called the current process “punitive” and questioned both the high fees and the long wait times. In May, the parole board conducted a public consultation on pardons, the results of which will be released later this month — just in time for a further “broader consultation” on the Criminal Records Act.

The government has said the law is unjust. So have Canadians. How many more public consultations will it take before Ottawa does the moral, evidence-based thing and gives rehabilitated offenders a second chance?

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